


The Basics of a Simple Life

by northofthehouse



Series: Domestic Habits [7]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 22:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15520233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/northofthehouse/pseuds/northofthehouse
Summary: It's not about being labeled as married as much as it is just feeling like they already are.





	The Basics of a Simple Life

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on AFF. (Possibly) Also a repeat post to AO3 from my previously orphaned account (I don't remember what I posted and what I didn't). Not plagiary!

Sehun pressed the flat of his tongue hard against the roof of his mouth to keep back a sneeze. He hated spring because Sehun hated spring cleaning. It was especially bad this year since Chanyeol had only just gotten back from another trip gallivanting around the world for Luhan and was sleeping in their bedroom. Meanwhile Sehun was stuck inhaling enough dust to clog his lungs as he helped Minseok scrub down what felt like every single surface of their house _and_ all of their neighbors’.

He wasn’t being strictly fair—Sehun knew the toll of jetlag on Chanyeol’s body, even when his taller lover tried to hide his exhaustion behind smart words and a cheeky smile—but it wasn’t Chanyeol’s eyes watering from all the dirt flying into them and it certainly wasn’t Chanyeol who felt like if he sneezed one more time that his brain would fall out through his nose. Minseok was sneezing too, though, and that made Sehun feel a little better, if only because he was the youngest and used it as an excuse to wallow in a bit of selfishness sometimes.

“When’s the last time we,” Minseok coughed violently, interrupting his own words with hacking sounds until his throat was clear again, “cleaned this desk out, Sehunnie? It’s a mess in here.”

Sehun shrugged; probably not since the last time Minseok roped Sehun and their other lover into deep cleaning the apartment. And it was Chanyeol’s desk anyway so probably even longer ago than that given the other’s messy tendencies.

The man in question appeared in the doorway that separated their bedroom from the rest of the apartment and leaned against the frame, yawning widely. “Just leave it, baby,” he groggily commanded Minseok. “Who knows what you might find growing in there.”

Minseok grimaced but ignored Chanyeol’s warning to pull yet another handful of crumpled post-it notes from the deep recesses of the desk’s top drawer. The surface of Chanyeol’s desk was slowly disappearing under a colorful pile of the little square papers and Sehun was frankly surprised by how few were actually soiled in some way or another. One had a bit of gum stuck to the corner and a few others had what looked like coffee dried across them, but other than that, most were perfectly intact.

“Didn’t know you had an office kink, Chan-chan,” Sehun called teasingly from where he was kneeling on the kitchen counter to better wipe away the dust that had gathered on top of the cupboards since the last time he’d done this.

Chanyeol flushed; Sehun’s words had rung a little truer than he or Minseok probably realized, especially since Chanyeol’s job didn’t have him in a stifling office all day and thereby left the space a perfect setting for fantasy.

“Oh look, Minnie,” Sehun giggled, sliding off the counter and loping his way across the living room to stand right in front of Chanyeol and peer closely at him. “Yeollie’s ears are all red. Such a cutie,” he cooed, taking advantage of Chanyeol’s still somewhat sleepy state to pinch his lover’s cheeks and ruffle the taller’s hair.

“You’re embarrassing him,” Minseok chided, the tone of his voice a delicate balance between gentle and amused. To Chanyeol he said sweetly, “You should try for a few more hours of sleep, Chan-ah.”

Sehun agreed with a nod and a quick peck to the corner of Chanyeol’s mouth, pulling away much too soon out of fear over a scolding from Minseok for abandoning his cleaning post. “We’ll be here when you wake up,” he reassured Chanyeol as he made his way back through the living room and paused to drop a kiss to the top of Minseok’s head. Minseok looked up with a loving smile and watched all the way until Sehun was back in position.

“Careful, Sehun—”Minseok started to say.

“Actually,” Chanyeol interrupted him suddenly, sounding a little nervous and a lot unsure. “I have something for you. Both of you.”

Minseok had a vivid memory of the last gift Chanyeol had brought home for them from his travels, and thought that Chanyeol’s nerves were completely understandable. Still he took the time to pull himself away from the desk to approach his lover with his arms wide.

“I’m sure we’ll love it,” he reassured Chanyeol, the words muffled through their embrace but still exactly what Chanyeol needed to hear, especially from Minseok.

“Yeah,” Sehun agreed, somehow right there to wrap his arms around his other two lovers’ already entwined forms. “Who doesn’t love presents?” Minseok didn’t know when their maknae had returned from the kitchen, but he’d missed the warmth of all three of them together—always did when Chanyeol had to go away—and was glad for Sehun’s chin resting on his shoulder and Sehun’s hands splayed across Chanyeol’s back.

Chanyeol smiled then, pressing little kisses of thanks to whatever spaces on Minseok and Sehun’s bodies that his lips could reach. “Ugh,” he groaned, though not unhappily, “I missed this so much.”

He extricated himself from Sehun’s noodle arms, turning Minseok by the shoulders to face Sehun and fill the space his body left. “And I love you,” he told them. Minseok knew this; Sehun knew this—why, then, did Chanyeol still look so unsure?

“Which is why,” he continued after a beat of silence in which the only sound that could be heard was Chanyeol gathering his courage in a single deep breath, “I bought us these.”

It wasn’t immediately clear to Minseok what _these_ were that Chanyeol was talking about. His view was partially obstructed by the bony solidity of Sehun’s shoulders but a gasp from Sehun was all it took for him to scramble back around to face Chanyeol again. And there, held out in Chanyeol’s shaking palm, were three rings, each slightly different from the others but still very clearly a matching set.

“Couple rings?” Sehun asked wonderingly; these were much nicer than any he’d seen in the jewelry shops around their home and he wanted to clarify. Minseok did too but he was suddenly too weak to say anything.

He had to lean his back against Sehun’s chest for support and comfort when Chanyeol corrected softly, “Wedding rings. I bought us wedding rings.”

“Wedding rings,” Minseok echoed back, unable to say or do anything else. “We can’t get married,” he reminded Chanyeol bitterly once he worked his way past the shock. “We’ve discussed this.”

And they had, more than once even given the nature of Minseok’s profession. If Chanyeol was trying to hurt Minseok with this gift more than he had with the last one, he was certainly succeeding. Still, Minseok didn’t want to say anything which might hurt Chanyeol back so he stepped away from Sehun and moved toward the desk with renewed vigor to clean the mess away.

Sehun bit his lip, unsure which of his lovers to go to, particularly since Chanyeol’s expression had literally crumpled the moment Minseok turned his back and walked away. Chanyeol made the decision for him, though, when he closed his fingers around the rings and clenched his fist before taking purposeful steps toward Minseok.

“We don’t have to register a marriage legally for the three of us to get married,” Chanyeol said, speaking into the space he left between himself and Minseok when he halted his advance a single pace away from their eldest lover.

Minseok could feel Chanyeol’s breath against his nape as the taller spoke and wanted so desperately to turn into Chanyeol’s waiting arms. He knew, though, that Chanyeol would have a hard time elaborating through all the apologetic kisses he was wont to shower upon Minseok’s upturned face, and gripped the edge of the desk hard but stayed with his back turned.

Sehun caught the movement from the corner of his eye as he followed Chanyeol to stand behind Minseok and revised his position so he could place a hand of support over one of Minseok’s while still keeping his other clasped tightly in Chanyeol’s. They made a funny picture, with Minseok facing the wall, Chanyeol facing Minseok’s back, and Sehun straddling the space between them while keeping both close. The youngest wouldn’t have it any other way, though, and a gentle squeeze of encouragement was all it took to get Chanyeol launching into an explanation.

It was clear that the taller man had been mulling over this for a while—the gift itself and perhaps also his presentation of it—for his words came easily despite the tension in the air.

“I love you,” he repeated. “Both of you. So much.” He smiled at Sehun then returned his gaze to the back of Minseok’s head, expression sad. “And everyone always says that the wedding’s more for the guests than the people actually getting married so I thought, who needs a wedding?”

Minseok scoffed incredulously under his breath but Sehun heard it and released his hand from Chanyeol’s briefly to shoot the taller a tentative thumb up. “Keep going,” he mouthed silently. Sehun, at least, could see where Chanyeol was going with this and he wasn’t sure it was possible to be any more in love than he already was, but he it certainly felt like he was falling for Chanyeol a little deeper.

“We already live together,” Chanyeol picked up his argument again, sounding a little more confident in himself and his reasoning. “We’ve been together for years,” he adds. “And maybe at first this felt a little like shaky ground, but I’m not sure anyone else in the world feels more like they’re married than I do with you two.” Minseok turned around then, obviously stifling a sob as he flung himself into Chanyeol’s arms, taking Sehun’s hand and dragging the youngest into the embrace with him.

“Why are you so perfect?” Minseok sniffled as his tears wet the smooth silk of Chanyeol’s rumpled button-up. “Also awful,” he tacked on after a moment. “I hate you. Always making me so emotional and in love with you.”

“And you!” He turned his head to the side a little and pinned Sehun with his gaze. “You’re too young to be so gentle with me,” he whined. “I don’t deserve either of you.”

“Don’t even start, Min-hyung-ah,” Sehun scolded. “We are each perfectly and equally deserving of each other.”

“Which is why the rings aren’t all exactly the same but still fit together nicely,” Chanyeol pointed out helpfully.  At that Minseok snorted into Chanyeol’s shirt and Sehun giggled again.

“I see what you did there,” Sehun said as Minseok complimented “Nice segue, Yeol.”

Chanyeol removed his arms from his lovers’ waists to carefully place the rings on the desk so he could cup Minseok’s face in his large hands. He brought their faces close, whispering “Anything to make you two smile,” against Minseok’s lips before pressing their mouths together. The kiss wasn’t anything special—there were no more sparks than usual and the fit was just as comfortable as it had always been—but Minseok reveled in its familiarity and pulled away smiling even larger than he’d been before. Sehun tugged obnoxiously on Chanyeol’s sleeve until he got a conciliatory kiss of his own, then plucked one of the rings up.

“This one’s for me, isn’t it?” He asked, though the question was largely rhetorical since Chanyeol had somehow managed to find three rings to mirror each of the three of them and how well they went together despite their differences.

“Don’t even think about it,” Minseok warned when Sehun made a move to slip the jewelry piece onto his ring finger. “You’ve still got the counters to wipe down,” the eldest reminded the youngest as Sehun pouted cutely and Chanyeol copied the maknae’s face too. “You don’t want to get it dirty on the first day.”

“I’m wearing this forever,” Sehun countered with a cheeky grin. “It’s bound to get dirty eventually.”

“Forever sounds good to me!” Chanyeol cheered, happy that the air had been cleared and that Minseok and Sehun were willing to wear his gift. He turned to Minseok, scooping up the other’s ring so he could hold it out with a wide smile. “Don’t you agree,” he paused to peck Minseok on the nose, “husband?”

“We didn’t even have a ceremony,” Minseok complained, though both Sehun and Chanyeol could tell he didn’t really mean it, particularly when he took the ring and slipped it on without comment.

Sehun gestured to the post-its littering Chanyeol’s desk, the glint of the ring on his hand catching the late afternoon light so beautifully that Minseok couldn’t even frown when he realized Sehun had completely ignored his directive. “We could always have a post-it wedding!” He suggested in mock excitement.

“This is not _Grey’s Anatomy_ ,” Chanyeol laughed through his denial of Sehun’s idea. Minseok, who’d never understood the appeal of the American drama despite the fact that Luhan had gotten Chanyeol—and Sehun by proxy—helplessly addicted, didn’t get the reference.

“And I am _not_ ,” Minseok contributed his own two cents anyway, “using anything from this mess to get married with.” He grimaced in Chanyeol’s direction and the taller man shrugged, looking sheepish. “I don’t know how I put up with you sometimes, Yeol.”

“Well,” Chanyeol responded, undeterred by the playful frown on Minseok’s face. He flashed the ring he wore on his own finger “We’re married now, so—”

“He’s saying you’re stuck with him,” Sehun called out from the kitchen. Minseok knew what Chanyeol meant, of course, but it was cute that Sehun felt the need to reinforce Chanyeol’s message.

“I’m stuck with _both_ of you,” Minseok corrected, lovingly. “My two husbands.”

“Damn right,” Chanyeol agreed.


End file.
